To Be A True Master part 10
by B. Juster II
Summary: The (long) story of a new pokemon trainer, his quest for a legendary evil that he released, and all his adventures along the way


  
  
I'M FINALLY BACK! *Cheers from all*   
  
To Be A True Master - The Journey Of A Lifetime  
  
  
Part 18 - The Pallet Trainer's Steady Obstacle! (Continued)  
  
An hour later, Jessie had FINALLY caught her sixth pokemon, a rather weak Drowzee, which she decided would not see much combat. James caught a Sandshrew, but had it transferred to his private pokemon box. All trainers, or at least the ones who don't know their town's professor personally, have their own pokemon boxes. When they capture more than six pokemon, the new pokemon is transferred to that box. And either through their pokedex (which will charge money to their account) or through a videophone (which only costs the phone call) they can withdraw and deposit pokemon.   
James traded in his Spearow for the Sandshrew, but also decided not to train it very much. I understood his concept, of training one pokemon to be more powerful in a team. Many trainers did that, and rose to be pokemon masters. I, however decided that evolving makes pokemon stronger, so I concentrate on a pokemon, evolve it, then use it only when it is needed.  
That night we spent camped out in a clearing in the grass which Jessie's Vileplume cut with its Petal Dance. The next morning was rather slow, no wait a minute, it was fast. HOLY COW, WE WERE MISSING THE SHIP! Breakfast was nonexistent as we tore across the field, James still struggling to pull on his Jacket, Jessie trying to put on makeup on the run, and Lark seemingly the only one ready. Arcanine bounded ahead, spraying Spearows, Sandshrews and Drowzees out of his path and trampling the long grasses.  
We barely made it on our ship, which set sail at 10 am. It was called the Viridian Voyager, a rather peculiar name I thought. It was not a pleasure cruiser, it was a sturdy ship with moderately sized living quarters and a good speed. It was supposed to arrive at Cinnabar Island in two to three days. Jessie, James, Lark, Meowth, Arcanine and I of course would be stopping a mile off-shore of Cinnabar Island, to stay on a small uninhabited island for several days.  
That night we spent on deck, and I fought Jessie, James and Lark. We decided to fight each other when we had the time, just to sharpen our skills, and level up our pokemon. Needless to say, I beat them all, though Lark was the hardest. Like I said before, she didn't evolve her pokemon, but they all had surprising endurance, and their minimal attacks wore away at my pokemon. She even used her new Growlithe, which Arcanine effortlessly defeated, as Lark had not trained the little puppy much.  
That night I borrowed a fishing pole from one of the sailors of the Viridian Voyager. I didn't catch much, only a Magikarp and a Horsea, both of which went to Professor Oak. Early in the morning I was awakened by the blowing of the ship's horn. I had fallen asleep not in my warm comfortable cabin, but on a chair on the deck, still holding the fishing pole. Someone, probably Lark, had thoughtfully wrapped me up in a blanket so I wouldn't freeze.  
"Aye, Lad, this be where yar supposed to get off!" Yelled the sailor whose fishing pole I had borrowed. I stood up and rubbed my eyes, looking around. A little way from the ship was a small island, which couldn't have been much bigger than a mile long by a mile wide. It was dominated by a small mountain, which had a rather thin forest surrounding it.  
Ten minutes later the Viridian Voyager's lifeboat hit the shore of the island, unloaded several days worth of food and air tanks for underwater diving, an inflatable boat, and left me and my companions there. Four hours. THAT was how long it took us to set up a campsite by the beach. Our first three sites were overrun with Crabbys and other such annoying pokemon. Yes, I did catch one of them, but I swore I'd never use the annoying little thing. After we'd finally finished setting up camp, we rested. I can't say I blamed myself and my friends for dozing off, it was, after all, a beautiful, secluded place. The sun was bright, the island was somewhat quiet, and there were no other people around.  
Later that day, only an hour before sunset, Lark woke us up. We worked for twenty minutes to blow our boat full of air, then finally paddled off into the now darkening waters.   
"Eevee!" Eevee squeaked as it sent its yellow indicator beam down into the water.   
"Great," I said, throwing my hands up into the air. "We'll never be able to find it! That bem doesn't reach far enough, and we sure can't take him down with us!" I said furiously, and of course, the little coward pokemon cried and disappeared.  
"Calm down," Lark said, putting a hand on my shoulder. "We have a general idea of where it is, all we have to do is search for it for a while."  
"Yeah...." I conceded. "Okay, let's go. Lark and Meowth you stay up here and keep watch, Jessie, James you're with me, let's go." I took a moment to temporarily replace one of my pokemon with Vaporeon, then called out the marine type, held onto his shoulders, and dove down deep into the water with an hour's worth of air in my tank.  
"You guys gettin' me?" I asked into the radio built into my scuba gear.  
"I'm receiving," James chirped back after a moment.  
"Okay, got your frequency," Jessie's voice said after a minute.  
"Okay, split up guys, comb the floor, and keep an eye out for wild pokemon and air supply," I instructed, then patted Vaporeon's back and we took off. Nothing. The three of us searched until sunset, but found only water pokemon, none of whom we could battle or capture underwater. We paddled back to the island in almost pitch black dark, as there were no lights around. When we arrived on the beach, the moon was our only source of illumination when it finally came out from its cloud cover.   
"Hey!" I shouted, running towards our campsite. I arrived just in time to see a blue shell disappearing into the forest, thwarted from carrying off my backpack.  
The next morning dawned rather cool, so Jessie, James, Meowth and me were naturally inclined to hanging out near the camp for the day. Lark would have none of it.  
"GET UP YOU LAZY WIMPS, WE'VE GOT WORK TO DO!" She bellowed, in a voice so forceful that it sent our entire group to the boat.   
"Meowth, you stay here, Lark, it's your turn to come down with us," I said with a scowl in her direction. She grinned and saluted. I just curled my fist until the knuckles were white.  
"See anything yet guys?" I asked into the scuba-radio.  
"If we did, you'd be the first to know," Jessie said in an annoyed voice. Among our entire group, Lark seemed to be the only one really happy about being underwater, which was unusual, considering that she trained fire pokemon.  
"Hey Jack, I see something...." Lark's voice said into my ear, quiet through some kind of interference. I turned, and saw her some distance away, swimming between two huge boulders.   
"Hey, Lark, wait up, you need an escort!" I yelled. My message didn't get through to her, or she chose to ignore me, but whatever the reason, she continued on into the murky waters.   
"Dang. Jessie, James you two keep looking, I'm going after her."  
Everything was alarmingly calm as I moved through the rapidly darkening waters, moving deeper, and deeper, down into an underwater canyon. Fish became more and more scarce, and I began to be worried as Lark steadily gained distance in front of me. Without a sound in the all-silent world, I released Vaporeon. I quickly grabbed onto his back, and he took off at a fast pace. Soon, we saw Lark ahead of us.   
My eyes widened as a dark sense of foreboding washed over my senses. "LARK!" I howled into my radio. Just as she turned and waved at me, about a hundred feet away. A boulder on the floor of the canyon stirred, and even in the nearly pitch-black water I noticed it. Big as a Charcloy and straight as a spear, the thing sprang from the ocean floor, charging towards Lark.   
Lark whipped around towards the thing. Even though this was a very violent and dangerous moment, all was dead silent, as if mocking us. I thought I saw a faint yellow light shine where our attacker had been resting, but I disregarded it as Vaporeon shot off to Lark. It was a race, and our opponent was well built for the challenge. Vaporeon paddled furiously, head straight forward, his goal being Lark. Our enemy opened his mouth as he neared Lark.  
Like a missile Vaporeon sped past Lark, and I just had the time to grab her wrist, yank her onto Vaporeon's back, then hold her hands down on his scaley fin. I motioned frantically for Vaporeon to go up, and he understood, acknowledging the command with a nod and a swift change in direction. I didn't have to look behind me or listen to know that the monster was still following us.   
Lark yelped into her radio as she lost her grip on Vaporeon in the waves of water. I instinctively snatched her as she dropped past me. The force of her descent was so great that she nearly pulled me off as well. I held on to Vaporeon's tail with one hand, and Lark's arm with the other. Her eyes looked up at me, half-lidded. The force of the water hitting her was slowly driving her unconscious. Her grip began to slacken. I looked past her and saw a gaping maw and rows of huge, sharp teeth. I looked back up, and could see the bottom of our boat, Meowth's face poking over it, then disappearing. He was smart, and right before we hit the boat from the bottom, he dove out, splashing down beside me.  
BAM! Vaporeon streaked right up into the air, popping from the water like a flying fish. Lark and I both let go, she hitting the water and laying face up, me dropping down in momentary shock. I recovered five seconds later, just in time to hear Meowth shriek. The poor little cat received the full brunt of the water-exit of the thing that had chased us. I watched in horror as a huge head appeared, followed by golden spikes. Then the body appeared, red scales zipping out of the water, followed by a ten foot long blue tail. Meowth, unfortunately, was swept up onto Ultrareon's back, where he clung to a spike, shivering and wide-eyed.   
"EEEEEEEEAAAAAAAA!" he screamed as he left my view, traveling up into the air on Ultrareon's back.   
"I be called Ultrareon, slayer of all in my path!" Ultrareon roared, turning in mid-air and hanging there for a moment. He had obviously been a busy boy, as he was now 40 feet tall, taller even than Charcloy's 35  
"Now, Soniq, you are all mine!" He said with a low chuckle.   
"Not a chance!" I yelled, then hurled Charcloy's Ultra Ball into the air. "Go, Charcloy!"   
Charcloy flew into the air straight from his pokeball, instantly knowing his nemesis was there. As I had expected, Ultrareon's attitude completely changed when he saw Charcloy, who he saw as a personal Pokemon enemy. With a thunderous roar Ultrareon hurtled in at Charcloy recklessly.  
"Charcloy, Tail Smash!" I ordered, then righted the boat. Charcloy dodged out of Ultrareon's way, then his tal came around in a painful whip, sending Ultrareon into the sea with a splash.  
"Guys, we need help back at the boat!" I cried into my radio. I faintly heard Jessie and James's voice, but I assumed they were coming and pulled my mask off. "Watch it Cha-"  
A long funnel of water burst from the water, held in place by an egually appearing Ultrareon. Both attack and attacker hit Charcloy at the same time, tossing him a hundred feet higher into the air. Ultrareon stayed where he was above me for a moment, and I could faintly see Meowth still looking frantically for a means of escape. Charcloy came in again, and from the fire in his eyes, and coming out of his mouth, I could see this was a battle I could not control.   
Charcloy slammed into Ultrareon, and both recoiled, dazed. It was then that Jessie and James surface, popping up together several feet from me. "Guys, I've got a plan, release your Jolteons onto the boat!" I yelled. As they did that, I swam over to Lark. "I'm going to need Pikachu for a little while," I whispered to her unconscious form. I took Pikachu's pokeball from her belt, then hesitated. I quickly pulled her mask off and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, then swam over to the boat.   
"Pika!"  
"Eon!"  
"Eon!"  
The three pokemon readied themselves at my command, and made ready for an opening in the fierce tackling battle between Ultrareon and Charizard. "Okay guys, here's my plan," I said to Jessie and James, who were looking as puzzled as their pokemon. "Ultrareon has an electric weakness in his tail, it'll conduct an electric attack, maybe even paralyze him. It might just drive him off with ther pain it'll inflict."  
I looked up, and saw Charcloy move away from Ultrareon a fair distance, preparing for his next attack. "NOW GUYS, GIVE IT YOUR BEST ELECTRIC ATTACKS!" I shouted. The two Jolteons barked and yipped at Ultrareon, then released their energy together.  
Pikachu curled up, balling his hands into fists beside his electric sacks. "PIIIII......KAAAAAAA.....CHUUUUUUUUU!" He squealed, then a ball of energy exploded from all three electric pokemon. Everything turned into a flash of light. I saw Jessie and James shoved violently away as I saw, the sky lit up, and a crack as of thunder echoed through the air.  
When I looked up, I was about thirty feet from the boat, Lark beside me, Jessie and James even further away. I grinned in satisfaction as I saw Ultrareon disappearing, trailing steam and screams of revenge behind him.   
"MEEEEEOWWWWWWWTH!" Came a loud cry. I looked farther up, and saw a tiny black dot nearing me. "Uh oh," I muttered. Meowth dropped from the sky like an asteroid, spiraling and blackened, leaving a funnel of black smoke behind him. His terrified, furry face was the last thing I saw, other than stars, then water all around me....  
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Part 19.The Thunderstone, And the King Of Water Pokemon  
  
  
  
"Why do I get knocked cold so many times?" was the first thing I howled through the headache that greeted me when I woke up.  
"'Cause you're too reckless, and this time ya took me with you!" Lark groaned somewhere nearby.  
I grinned and opened my eyes, turning over to lean on one elbow beside her. "You okay?" I asked, looking down at her. She opened her eyes, then covered them from the setting sun with a hand. Finally, she looked up at me.   
"Yeah, I'm okay, how 'bout you?"  
"Yep, just got hit by Meowth," I said, rubbing my aching ribs. "Speakin' of which, where are the thieves of our group?" I asked, looking around. We were in front of our campsite, layed out on the beach, totally alone, except for the huge orange ball of the setting sun.  
"They'll probably be back soon," Lark said after a moment, then put her arms behind her head and stared out across the shining sea waters.  
I looked around one more time, then relaxed and shrugged. I stared at Lark for a moment, who lay serenely beside me, eyes half-closed. With a barely audible chuckle, I gripped a handful of sand, then woke her up by dropping the ocean residue on her scuba swimsuit.  
"Hey!" she said, sitting bolt upright and brushing herself off. I just laughed at her as she looked so sad over such a trivial thing. Suddenly, she turned on me, fury apparent in her eyes. I only got out half a surprised cry before she tackled me, knocking me to the ground again with enough force to renew the headache I had woken up with. Groaning, I came to my senses a minute. Lark had used that minute, and her own light weight and speed to gain a position over me. Now she was sitting on my stomach, holding my wrists over my head with one hand. She smiled mischievously at me.  
"Get offa me," I growled up at her, trying to get my hands free. But, I was alot weaker than I thought, and what turned out to be my great lunge for freedom was only a little tug. I didn't escape (duh). Then, Lark's face softened as she saw my pain-filled expression. She let my wrists go, but remained sitting on me.   
"Getting comfortable?" I asked, rubbing my wrists to restore the circulation.  
She shrugged, looking down for a moment, then back up at me. "Y' know what?" she asked in a slightly nervous voice.  
"I know a lot, but I doubt there's much more than a 2 percent chance that I know what the answer to this is," I answered.  
Lark leaned in closer to me, then brushed a fallen strand of hair out of her eyes, where it fell back into place again. "You saved my life down there," she said.   
I gulped as she came nearer to me. For the second time since we had met, I was mesmerized by her dark green eyes as they neared.  
"You're a hero," she whispered. "And for that, you deserve a reward." Her face came within an inch of mine, her intentions clear.  
"Meeeeowth, what was that thing?"   
Lark's head snapped up and she looked over at the source of the voice with an annoyed look. Jessie and James came out of the forest several dozen feet away, behind Meowth, their arms loaded with logs and sticks for a fire.  
"I don't know, but whatever it was, it was intent on giving us a shower!" James answered Meowth, then dropped his load of sticks beside our camp. Jessie looked over at me and Lark, then she grinned slyly and turned to face her partners. A burst of chuckles and laughs burst out.  
"Umm, about that reward-" I began. Lark snarled, then without looking, pushed my head back down and stood up, stomping over to Jessie, James and Meowth.   
"And what is so funny?" She asked, picking up a laughing Meowth and holding him out in front of her. Meowth managed to say something in between laughs which Lark must have found highly offensive.  
"I do not!" she shouted, then threw Meowth down to the sandy ground and stomped off to her tent.  
So shaken up and tired out by the events surrounding the battle with Ultrareon were we, that we rested for two days, doing nothing but resting our pokemon and ourselves. It was, actually, a bit of a vacation. We were on a deserted island, we were not working, or battling, and for those two days, none of our pokemon stayed in their poke-balls. Only one pokemon remained in its pokeball, the one Lark had promised never to take out. Lark's Growlithe and Flareon looked up to Charcloy and Arcanine, and followed them around constantly, even slept with them at night.   
Jessie and James's Jolteons were almost like twins in the way they acted, and they and Pikachu became fast friends after using a combined Thunder attack on Ultrareon. Our flying types spent the resting period showing off their talents to each other. James's spearow turned out to be not so little, when he was spurred on by Jessie's Doduo, and beat up the tough little double bird.   
As for Vileplume, Arbok, Lickitung, Oddish, Victreebell and Bulbasaur, our grass and poison types, they seemed to be the quietest ones. They spent their time off in a circle, talking about their past experiences. Bulbasaur and Oddish were the runts, as they were unevolved and not trained very well yet. Drowzee and Kadabra were friends from when the latter was an Abra. Kadabra still respected the more matured, wiser Drowzee, even though he now was more powerful and knew more attacks.  
Vaporeon was our only water type, but didn't mind at all. He was a mysterious thing, not especially caring about me yet obeying, but at the same time not easy to hurt or insult, though our little electric gang tried their best. All in all, with 23 pokemon running around a beach (we didn't permit them to go very far from our campsite for safety), with 23 pokemon running around it got rather noisey. But it was the welcome kind. The sound of comradery, of comfort, of a team.  
Charcloy and Pidgeot were the only two remaining original pokemon on my starting lineup, and the younger pokemon listened to their stories with fascination every night. Sometimes I listened, and translated what Charcloy was saying to Jessie, James and Lark. Or Meowth would translate for the other pokemon. On the last night, every pokemon told their story, standing in front of the campfire and waving with his arms or paws, telling of its battles, of its capture, its trainer.  
We found out just how much our Pokemon adored us, especially the unevolved ones. Oddish and Pikachu loved Lark, and slept with her every night. Drowzee respected Lark, and Flareon and growlithe were like puppies around Lark.  
Jessie's first Pokemon, Arbok was child-like in spirit and loved Jessie like a mother. Lickitung was likewise. Doduo, Vileplume and Jolteon were able to see past Jessie's hard exterior and greatly trusted her.  
James's Pokemon were like his friends, enemies, brothers and neighbors all together. Graveler loved James a bit too much, and ended up nearly crushing his master several times while hugging him. Weezing was rather stupid, (no, I never said that out loud!), and just followed James like a faithful pet. Dodrio, Jolteon and Victreebell were always talking with James, and he began tyo understand them after awhile. He even payed attanetion to the little spearow after he saw it sitting alone, far away from the group one night during storytelling.  
My Pokemon. Arcanine, Pidgeot and Kadabra were noble, classic types as well as handsome. They all greatly admired me for my courage and stamina, and for my persistence. They believed that I was a skilled trainer, and they trusted their lives with me. Charcloy was the king of all our Pokemon, who all thought of him as the Grandfather, the leader, the oldest pokemon. Charcloy had been loyal to me from his Charmander stage, and he swore to everyone that that would never change, that he thought of me as a son and would be loyal to me forever. Bulbasaur was a typical pokemon. I had not captured him, I had received him from Erika. I had not had the time or circumstances to train him, so he was not especially fond of me. It helped that Bulbasaurs were just naturally stubborn pokemon.  
The rest did us all good. The Pokemon all healed up physically and mentally after months of hard fighting, cramped pokeballs, and mounting casualties. They related to their fellow pokemon jokingly that they were always afraid of being traded in for a newly captured pokemon. And every time they came out of their pokeballs, there was a new pokemon to make friends with. I took this into consideration. Maybe..... Maybe when I captured all the right pokemon I could assemble an unchangeable, unstoppable team. But I kept on finding newer, more powerful types every day. I had two of the three starting pokemon, Charcloy and Bulbasaur.  
On the last morning of our rest I woke up early and thought over the perfect team. Charcloy, Bulbasaur and Squirtle, Pidgeot, Jolteon (or a Pikachu, hopefully) and Arcanine. A more perfect team would be to substitute Arcanine for Kadabra, but I doubted I would meet many psychic weakness pokemon, while as I couldn't take Charcloy out too often (it just wouldn't be fair). I also just plain liked Arcanine.   
"Yee haaaw!" I screamed, then did a backflip into the water.   
"Jessie, I don't want to gooooo-" James was pushed in.  
"Let's go!" Jessie and Lark dove gracefully in. A moment later, Vaporeon exited his pokeball and I grabbed onto him. Our group swam down into the canyon that Ultrareon had been resting in two days ago. And there was our target. Glowing and pulsing with its own light, the Thunderstone shone like a beacon.  
"I've got it," I chirped into my radio link, then me and Vaporeon dove down speedily. I dropped off of Vaporeon's back and we both walked across the ocean floor towards the thunderstone. Dust and debris poofed up all around us. "That's weird," I said, after I was sure it had happened again. The Thunderstone... winked. It was bright, then it disappeared, t hen came back again.  
When I got to it, I found the rather simple reason. A shellder was opening and closing its shell, in which the Thunderstone sat. I pulled a spare Great Ball from my belt sack, touched the shellder with it, and caught my 26th pokemon.  
When we paddled back to shore, I just called out Shellder, ordered him to give me the Thunderstone, then sent him to Professor Oak.  
"Finally!" I said as I ran my hands over the smooth Thunderstone. "We only have the Fire Stone to go!" I dropped the stone into its special pouch with the Water Stone, then we all began to pack up our camp. After we had finished, I made a quick trade, bringing Jolteon back to my team in exchange for Vaporeon.  
"Tortle, Wartortle war wartortle!" I turned, to face a rather angry little creature. I held out Pokedex, having a vague idea myself of what this thing was.  
"Wartortle, a water pokemon - the evolved form of Squirtle. This skilled swimming pokemon evolves into thewater god Blastoise. Wartortle's tails are supposed to be an ancient symbol of their wisdom."  
"Well this one doesn't seem to wise comin' out here to see me, 'cause I'm gonna catch it!" I grinned enthusiastically, then released Jolteon. The Wartortle stood his ground, then smiled.  
"Tortle!" He croaked. Another wartortle came out from the jungle.  
"Allright, two! Maybe I can give one to professor Oak for a starting pokemon!"  
Out came two more. "Well...."  
The forest was suddenly swaying back and forth, trees cracking and crashing. About thirty wartortles exited the forest, followed by a dozen squirtles. Then, two gigantic Blastoises came out.  
"Blaaaaaaast!" One of them growled. Both Blastoise's shells opened, and out came double water guns.  
"Guys, take out your electric pokemon," I whispered to Jessie, James and Lark. With three zips, the battle arena was set. Our three Jolteons growled and yipped at the enemy water pokemon, baring their teeh, ready for battle. Pikachu clenched his fists and sparks shot from his cheeks.  
The wartortles and Squirtles suddenly ran around, and within ten seconds they had formed battle ranks. Twenty Wartortles made the first line, followed by ten Squirtles, and the two Blastoises towered above them all.   
Without warning, the two Blastoises opened fire. Poor Jessie and James screamed as they flew up into the sky on jets of water. "Looks like we're blasting off again!" Their voices faded off.  
"Combination Thunder attack!" I yelled.  
"Jolllll....."  
"Teeeeee"  
"Onnnnn...."  
"PIKAAAAAA!"  
The ball of golden light exploded from the four electric pokemon, striking the group of Squirtles and their evolved forms. The ball of electricity focused into an arc of electricity, which began taking out the enemies one by one, raking across their lines. The group scattered, the squirtles, Wartortles, and one Blastoise disappearing into the forest.  
"Okay guys, let it down!" I ordered. The three Jolteons and one Pikachu slowly let down their blast. Seven wartortles and seven Squirtles lay unconscious and smoking on the ground. Then, I saw IT. The giant shell, blackened and steaming. We had knocked out the Blastoise.  
"Common Lark, we can use these pokemon, start throwin' pokeballs!" I pulled out seven Great Balls, then started throwing. Zips filled the air as the fainted squirtles and Wartortles were captured, completely unknowing. Last, I walked up to the unconscious blastoise.   
"Blastoise, you're part of our team now!" I yelled, then hurled the Great Ball, striking his shell. It took almost thirty seconds for the huge shell to dematerialize, then get sucked into the Great Ball. It shook for a moment, then shook violently again, bouncing up into the air.  
I dove away as the ball opened, then Blastoise spilled out. "This can't be good!" I yelped as I ran. "Outta the way, let's amscray!" I continued yelling as I ran to the water. Lark ordered something, and Pikachu siddenly went running towards me. I ducked just as Pikachu jumped. The little mouse rebounded off my back, then hopped up into the air.  
"Piiiiiii....."  
"Blaaaast!" Blastoise shook his head.  
"KAaAaAaAa....."  
"Oise?" Blastoise stared at Pikachu, who was hurtling towards him.  
"CHUUUUUU!" Pikachu lit up, blasting out thousand of volts of electricity.  
"BlastOIIIIIISE!" Blastoise howled as he stood, arms raised, electricity frying him to a crisp. Pikachu hit the ground, electric sacs still firing, and squealed.  
"Jack, throw the pokeball now!" Lark said behind me.  
"Right!" I said confidently, whirling and flipping a great ball up into my hand from my sleeve. "Yeee haaaa! Blastoise, yer mahn!" I imitated an american-southern accent as I sent the capturing device on its flight. Blastoise was still in the grip of Pikachu's thundershock when he was hit by the great ball and trapped.   
"Ding!" The Great Ball had no trouble holding Blastoise, who I assumed had fainted just as he was caught.  
I grinned and twirled the newly occupied Great Ball around on my finger proudly in front of Lark and Pikachu. "Here's my new water pokemon!" I said (Insert Pokedex sending the pokeball to Professor Oak here.) "...Thanks guys, especially you, Pikachu."  
"Pikaaa," Pikachu said, pumping his little arms like a weightlifter. Lark and I both laughed.  
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Part 20. An Unexpected Tragedy  
  
  
"Why do we always get blasted off somewhere, always painfully and far away?" Complained James. Jessie just growled something that no one caught.  
"We just have bad luck," Meowth said. "And here comes more!"   
The new bad luck he was referring too was our departure from the island. On Charcloy. Naturally, the trio complained about leaving, and especially by flight. Lark and I glared down at the cowards, and I whispered in Charcloy's ear. He grunted, then scooped up Jessie, James and Meowth, dumping them on his back withuot warning, then leaping into the sky.  
Lark immediately scooted nearer to me and hung on to me. Jessie and James screamed, Meowth screeched, my Pokedex beeped, and thunder boomed through the sky as we gained altitude, flying right below some dark clouds.  
With a quick look around at the clouds, I unclipped Pokedex from my belt and flipped it open. A small image of Professor Oak materialized on the screen.  
"Hey Professor, ya see my new haul?" I asked cheerfully.  
"I certainly did Jack, and I am very impressed. "Seven Squirtles and Wartortles, and a Blastoise?" You're surpassing even my grandson and his rival Ash," Oak replied with a laugh.  
"Hey professor, I need Blastoise, I'm trading in Kadabra for him, here he comes." I placed Kadabra's minimized pokeball on the transferral plate, and he disappeared. Professor Oak began sorting through a rack of pokeballs beside him.  
"Hey, Professor, I had a reason for catching all those Squirtles and Wartortles, and I was wondering if you could help me out," I asked as Blastoises Great Ball appeared. I clipped the new ball onto my belt and looked back to a waiting Professor Oak.  
"Y' see, I was thinking that Squirtle is the best water pokemon, and one of the best starter pokemon. He's in great demand, so I was hoping that if anyone wanted it or wartortle, maybe you could trade one for a pokemon I need."  
Oak thought for a moment, then shrugged. "I.... .Suppose it's a good idea. Which reminds me, there are two trainers here that want to trade their Mr Mime and Koffing for your Arbok and Bellsprout, should I trade them? I'll remind you that it would count as getting two more species, not losing two."  
"Sure, Professor! I'm not going to really use them I guess, but I'm still trying to get the most species!"  
"Excellent! Ooh, another trainer's here who wants to trade his Pikachu for one of your Squirtles!" Oak said, looking off to the side.  
"Yes sir!" I said, excitement shooting through me. "Here, I'll trade in my Jolteon for that Pikachu now," I said after Oak reappeared a moment later, holding a red pokeball in his hand.   
Just as my new Pikachu arrived, a large drop of rain pelted down onto the Pokedex screen, then rolled down.   
I looked up. I heard Professor Oak saying something, but suddenly static filled the connection.  
"Professor? I think the clouds are blocking our transmission! I have to go now, thanks for everything, bye!" I yelled over the sudden pouring of rain.  
The sky lit up again as a bolt of thunder burst though the clouds several hundred feet behind us. Charcloy snarled and weaved back and forth. The rain doubled, then doubled again. The clouds darkened and explosions filled the air as dozens of lightning bolts stabbed down, filling the sky.  
"This isn't normal!" James howled over the screaming of air and wind. Charcloy roared, and I turned to listen to him.  
The air lit up again, this time blinding me. When it faded, horror turned my blood cold. We were in the clouds, then diving down out of them. That wasn't the worst thing though. IT was there. 'It's HIM!' My mind screamed at me as I saw it.  
Golden wings. Sharp, spearlike head. Zapdos, the Legendary Bird. He spun gloriously in the air, and produced another monstrous lightning bolt, directing it down to earth.  
A shrieking filled my ears, then everything froze for a moment as Zapdos turned and saw us. Behind him, something flashed red, and a bird composed of fire appeared, flapping up behind Zapdos. With a final howl, a white, elegant bird came up behind both of them, then they all stared at me. Charcloy stared as well, and we all faced each other down. Charcloy with its load of four pokemon trainers and a Meowth cat met Legendary Birds Zapdos, Moltres, and Articuno.  
"Down! Down! Down, let's go!" I hollered at the top of my lungs. Though he was at least 30 feet bigger than the three birds, Charcloy had heard the pokemon rumors of these three wonders, and obeyed my order. He took a steep dive, and we all held on, while still staring behind us. The three birds had been disturbed, and now the storm wasn't our foe, the three enraged pokemon were.   
It didn't help that I suddenly remembered my camera from Eevee City and pulled it out. Obviously they knew it was a new enemy, and sped up to chase us as I frantically snapped pictures. Moltres was captured forever on film as he pursued us. Zapdos was no more a myth as I got him too. Articuno lost his mysterious aura when I pulled the camrea trigger.  
That sent on the major wanring lights. Blasts of fire, Ice and Electricity filled the air all at once, threatening to knock us all from the sky. 'The farther down we can get, the better chance we'll have of living if we get hit,' I kept thinking.  
Cinnabar Island came into view, a welcome sight, where I knew people waited to help us, maybe even staring up at us now as fire, ice and lightning filled the sky.  
A fireball exploded past us, then faded away. Then came the first of three devastating hits. A long stream of fire hit Charcloy's wing, burning him for a full second before disappearing.  
Charcloy barked in pain, and for a moment, his flight faltered. That was just enough time for the next bird to get in a hit. CRACK! A lightning bolt struck Charcloy's armored head, snapping it down as he howled in pain.  
"Jessie, James, abandon!" I yelled as fear raced through my system.  
The two trainers took a last sorrowful look at me, then jumped off. I watched, and saw two parachutes with red 'R's on them pop open.  
"Lark!" I said, turning to her.  
"Not going to happen!" she said back. "Jack, I want to tell you that I-"  
Articuno suddenly swooped in low, and through all the danger, I smelled the air. Like a fresh ocean breeze, like a country wind, like a piece of pure serenity..... I idly wondered how something so nice could be so vicious. Then his ice beam slammed into Charcloy's back, and my friend screamed in agony, a long, mournful wail that broke my heart. The sound of a dying animal.  
Charcloy's scaled hide suddenly turned to ice, and Lark screamed as she slipped off.   
I saw past the diving Legendary Birds, my wounded flying Charcloy, and took a moment to numbly hurl Pidgeot's pokeball at Lark.   
"JAAAAAACK!" She cried as, a second later, Pidgeot grabbed her and carried her away from me. She was silent for a moment, and our eyes locked as we stared at each other. A tear escaped my eye as I realized that I was never to see Lark again. Or Jessie and James, Charcloy and Meowth, Arcanine or anyone else I knew.  
I sniffed and looked away. Fury filled my heart as I thought of the arrogant pokemon who were murdering me and Charcloy just to keep their privacy. My head jerked up and I stared ice at my three attackers, who were flapping just below the clouds, watching me curiously.  
"I'll return!" I shouted angrily. "I'll defeat and catch you all! Do you hear me? I am Jack Soniq from the town of Pallet! I WILL CAPTURE ALL OF YOU!"  
Then I turned away from the three screeching birds, back to Charcloy, who began a steep, uncontrollable dive at that moment.  
"It'll be okay boy," I said, leaning down to Charcloy's ear as we fell.   
Charcloy's eyes closed, and he slipped into unconscious. The two of us plunged down to Cinnabar, trainer and Pokemon, facing death together.  
I layed down on Charcloy's back and let everything go. Pressing my face to Charcloy's hide, I sniffed back tears. Cinnabar grew closer, and I let out a peaceful sigh in my last few seconds.  
"Goodbye Charcloy. I'm sorry I let this happen," I whispered, then embraced Oblivion.  
The next few seconds I didn't know what happened. Trees. People. Screams. Ground. Nothingness....  
  
  
PLEASE E-MAIL ME! brenndon_juster@hotmail.com 


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